Hello friends!

I’d like to check if anyone else’s June also passed by in a flash! Because that is what happened to me. Despite plans for a more productive blogging month in June, work ended up being so busy that the only things I managed to write were my June rereading posts. And I was SO GRATEFUL for these posts – rereading was a comfort to me in June that I would have liked to continue it further (but my book club chose a new book and I can no longer ignore my TBR pile).

June in Books

Here is how my “bookshelf” is looking after half a year! I doubt I’ll finish the two pages I dedicated for reading but at least progress is being made! June was ALL rereads and I also reread some favourites like:

• Silence by Endo Shusaku
• Kiku’s Prayer by Endo Shusaku (really, he’s one of my favourite authors, though he is a bit depressing)
• Infused by Henrietta Lovell (my favourite tea book)

I did initially plan to reread more tea books in hopes of maybe being inspired to write about tea, but somehow that project seems to be languishing and despite feeling slightly guilty about not having high-level goals, I’m not going to push it. Work is giving me enough to do that I don’t feel too bad that I’m rather aimless in my hobbies right now – it’s really more of a stress-relief than a higher calling and I’m starting to think that it’s okay!

June in Tea

I find that I’ve been using tea as a comfort now, and that means that there’s simply not much to blog about! I don’t really have the energy to dive deep into teas and record what I feel, I prefer to reach for a familiar cup and that’s what I’ve been doing most weekends. That said, I finally do have one review that will be going live this week.

There was a pretty big sale in China (as a country, generally) in June so I used it as a chance to stock up on Chinese teas. I’m thinking that perhaps what I need to do with tea is to take it less seriously and be comfortable writing short posts that capture what I have to say, not what I think it should say (i.e. long, serious reviews with multiple steeps). When those teas come, I’ll see if I can do weekly short reviews, like what I did with Lupicia.

I have also finally started writing the sustainabiliTEA post that I think I mentioned last month, so fingers crossed that it comes out this month!

Other Things

June was a bad month for SEO, which makes sense because I didn’t write any SEO-friendly posts (Wyrd & Wonder was great for SEO, though I didn’t really participate too heavily). But this became a good reminder that I’m blogging for fun and not for numbers. I actually really enjoyed writing the “daily” posts and didn’t feel too bad that I skipped a couple of days! I don’t know if you enjoyed it, but I felt that the posts were very organic and it was fun to just sit down and write.

That said, the two discussion posts that I wrote felt very energising to me and it made me think about the different types of posts on this blog. Reviews are the staple here, since I like keeping track of what I read and drink, but it’s definitely fun to be creative and I should be keeping my mind open (and my fingers ready) to more discussion-type of posts!

In other news, the new Lord of The Rings Magic The Gathering sets have come out! My boyfriend and I have tried to go for two events to celebrate the release but we have terrible luck and the game shops have been full both times! Although I did manage to snag a pin and a poster, which is very cool. Now I just need to buy the deck.

To end, please enjoy this picture of the cute wagashi that a friend bought when she came over for tea! It went great with the Sayama senchas, which I’ve been bringing out whenever I have friends over.